Thermal neutron equivalent dose measurements with nanostructured zirconia

This paper reports the experimental results concerning the thermoluminescent measurements of thermal neutron using nanostructured zirconium oxide (ZrO2) powder prepared by the sol-gel method. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques were used for morphological and structural characterization of the compound. Thermal annealing processes for the precipitates were studied. It was observed that the crystalline structure and the crystallinity of the powders depend on the annealing temperature. For temperatures higher than 1100C, the material presents the monoclinic phase with average nanocrystallite sizes ranging from 8-10nm up to 40nm. These zirconium oxide materials developed in our laboratory were used in this investigation. Within the experimental uncertainties, these measurements were compared with those obtained using the well-known gamma rays sensitive lithium fluoride (LiF:Mg,Cu,P), also developed in our laboratory.